Retractable tractor wheel land grips



Dec. 31, 1957 HAYDEN 2,818,301

RETRACTABLE TRACTOR WHEEL LAND GRIPS Filed NOV. 20, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor Attorney Dec. 31, 1957 P. J. HAYDEN RETRACTABLE TRAcToR WHEEL LAND GRIPS 2 Sheejzs-Shet 2 Filed Nov. 20, 1956 E M a M MM 0 2% Attorney United, States PatfifltfQ 1:81am REIRAQT EIfiWQEQBrWHEEL; ANM RIP Peter "Joseph fi t r mkss n Ireland. assi ned This invention relates to retractable tractor wheel land grips and has for itslobjecttoiprovide a construction mink saidd i v hiqh W .,.prm maria-asse .bly to thejr'actof wheel, on whichathe land ;grips may be left'permanently fitted ifdesired, the assembly permitting the extension of the grips for land work or their retraction for road work in a matter of seconds without the use of a spanner or other accessory tools.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a construction of the said land grips which will permit of one or more intermediate extended positions between the fully extended position of the grips and their fully retracted position, and to permit of the extended grips being effective for reverse driving.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of one preferred embodiment of the invention given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the land grip assembly showing the land grips in fully extended position.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the land grips in fully retracted position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line III-III of Fig. 1, and also showing the tractor wheel in dotted outline.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line IVIV of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail view to an enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawings, each retractable land grip 1 is formed at the outer end of an arm 2 by cranking the arm 2 rearwardly with reference to the direction of forward rotation as indicated by the arrow 3, and welding a foot plate 4 thereto so that each land grip 1 is substantially of T-section.

The arms 2 pass through slots 5 provided a uniformly spaced distance on the circumferential rim 6 of a spider frame the spokes 7 of which are rigidly connected at their inner ends to the spider hub 8 of channel section, the circumferential flange 9 of which projects outwardly away from the tractor wheel 10. The hub 8 is provided with a boss 11 on its rear side, the hub 8 and boss 11 being centrally bored and internally screw threaded to receive the screw threaded spindle 12 of a locking hand wheel 13, the spindle 12 passing through a central bore of a circular plate 14 which is held between a shoulder 15 and a collar 16 fixed to the spindle 12. Rotation of the hand wheel 13 will, therefore, move the plate 14 axially with reference to the hub 8, a pair of stud pins 17 fixed to the hub 8 passing through one or the other of three pairs of diametrically aligned holes 18, 19, and 20 provided in plate 14. In its innermost locked position, the rear surface of plate 14 abuts against the peripheral flange 9 of the channel sectioned hub 8.

The inner ends of the arms are 2 pivotally connected to the plate 14 by bolts 21, the shank portions of which underneath the heads of the bolt are left non-threaded for a suitable distance to allow adequate clearance be- 2,818,301 atsnted Dec-n31,

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To retract the grip arms 2 fully for road use, the plate 14 is disengaged from the studs 17 by rotating hand wheel 13, and plate 14 is rotated clockwise viewing Figs. 1 and 2 until the pair of holes 20 are aligned with the studs 17 whereupon hand wheel 13 is rotated in the reverse direction to lock the plate 14 on the studs 17 with the grip arms 2 fully retracted as shown in Fig. 2. In this retracted position, the bottom edge of each foot plate 4 abuts against the rim 6 as shown in Fig. 5.

It will be apparent that in a similar manner the studs 17 could be engaged in the pair of holes 19 to lock plate 14 with the grip arms 2 extended to an intermediate position, and if desired the plate 14 may be provided with additional pairs of diametrically aligned holes similar to holes 19 to permit of the setting of the land grips to any one of a number of extended positions intermediate between the fully extended and fully retracted positions.

The gripping ends 1 of the arms 2 are cranked rearwardly to the direction of rotation sufficiently to ensure that each grip 1 will be withdrawn from the soil vertically so as to prevent the throwing up of soil as each land grip 1 emerges therefrom.

It will be noted that the land grips according to the invention will be fully effective for reverse driving of the tractor, in which case each grip arm 2 will bear against the end of the slot 5 opposite to that which it bears against for forward driving. It will also be noted that the construction according to the invention permits rapid and convenient alteration of the setting of the land grips without the use of a spanner or other accessory tool.

I claim:

1. An assembly of retractable tractor wheel land grips comprising a circular spider frame adapted for concentric mounting on the tractor wheel in spaced apart relation therewith, a peripheral rim on the spider frame with spaced apart circumferential slots therein, a central hub on the spider frame, a locking hand wheel with a central spindle having screw threaded engagement with the central hub, a central plate rotatably mounted on the hand wheel spindle and axially movable therewith relative to the hub as said hand wheel is rotated in me and tractor wheel to the tractor axle hub 2 set of bolts.

n assembly as claimed in claim 4, spacing :ured to the rear of the spider frame concentric lolts holes therein for spacing the spider frame 1 the tractor'wheel.

lssembly as claimed in claim 1, in which the of each grip arm is cranked rearwardly in a the direction of rotation for vertical emerhe land grip on the end of each grip arm from :ferences Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lambert Dec. 15, 1914 Lantz Nov. 14, 1922 Darvill Jan. 29, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 35 55 99 11 34 VI Op NA n 3 C u e FD 

